Laptop

[BlindMelon7]

Now I would put this in the "portables" sub-forum but nobody seems to go there .

It looks like I might be going abroad for a bit so no more mr PC . I'm looking for an exremely rugged. dust-proof machine that can hack the odd game (if I can find an internet conection I'll be playing WOW) and other random tasks. I'm not TOO bothered about OS but I have been playing with my dads Quad Core G5 () and decided that, other than the large screen, its pretty crap. Never the less thats probably because it uses 7300GTs (4 of them for some reason).

Bugget is: wait for it... £600 *crys*

Good luck

Edit: I hear an IBM T41 can be had for £300 and they are batterable aparently. I would have to add a new GPU if possible. I also spelt "portables" wrong, don't worry, i only got 2 letters mixed up

Edit2: Spelt spelt wrong

Edit3: I think... they wont let me install FF so i'm pretty lost right now

[staffsMike]

How important (other than sanity of course ) is it you have a pc where you are as in if it breaks and you have a 2 or more week period without one will how much will it effect you?

I ask because you could get a fairly cheap dell and then get next day onsite anywhere in the world cover etc..

Or is it more important that when it works its the best you can get for £600?

[lanceuppercut]

Edit: I hear an IBM T41 can be had for £300 and they are batterable aparently. I would have to add a new GPU if possible. I also spelt "portables" wrong, don't worry, i only got 2 letters mixed up

you cant upgrade the GPU on ibm t41's, afaik its mainly the upper end dell notebooks that are gpu upgradeable..

[BlindMelon7]

To answer staffsMike I don't need it for anything too important, mainly to amuse myself. I may do a bit of photoshop but other than that...

As for the GPU on the T41 am I correct in saying its going to have trouble wih playing DVDs let alone games? As far as I remember the one I was going to buy had 1gb of ram, an intel (shudder) processor of some description and I forget the rest lol

[staffsMike]

how about something like this then.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=564206
AMD and nvidia onboard gfx..
Close to max budget but it should be good.

Acer do various cheapy things..can't be bothered to find a model as i dont like them lol

If you're looking on ebay..

hmmm..

Dell xps m1210..thats the holy grail of laptops
Sony SZ series.
Dell latitude D620..good ruggid laptop and most of them come with a 128mb quadro gfx card..not great for games but im sure it can handle the lower end of things.

check out www.zepto.com ..some real bargains on there.

[this_is_gav]

As for the GPU on the T41 am I correct in saying its going to have trouble wih playing DVDs let alone games? As far as I remember the one I was going to buy had 1gb of ram, an intel (shudder) processor of some description and I forget the rest lol

Nah, even the poorest of recent integrated graphics controllers can display DVDs at a decent resolution (<1680x1050). Even my Intel 945G and its replacement, the 7100GS can display MPEG2 footage at 1920x1200 (the 945G just... it's not particularly responsive in MCEs menus).

As for Intel, they make some awesome mobile processors. A Pentium Ms upwards are generally great performers, especially when you factor in the power they (don't) use. Just don't get a Celeron M.

For the Scan recommendation above, the 6100 isn't gonna be playing any games (certainly not recent ones) at much more than 800x600. You're not really going to be playing any games on any laptop I've seen under &#163;500 to be honest.

[staffsMike]

I certainly wasn't recommending it for games haha but all other media activities it will handle well.

I've got an old knackered Vaio with a 64mb ATi gfx card and a centrino 1.6Ghz.. eh.. EH?

[this_is_gav]

Crysis won't know what's hit it!

To be honest Blindy, I don't think you're going to get anything that covers your bases (gaming is the big, big sticking point) for your budget. Gaming laptops are massively expensive. Just whole philosophy of putting extremely efficient components capable of driving a lot of pixels in a small and confined space. They cost the earth.

Looking around it's hard to find anything for <&#163;600 with anything other than Intel (next to useless for gaming), and ATI 1100 or nV 6100.

The very, very lowest I'd consider for gaming (just looking through Misco) would be this ACER AS5103WLMi. Ideally it would be a Core Duo or Core 2 Duo mobile, but we're pushing it here, already over budget, and still not with a decent graphics controller.

If you want to stick to the budget, I think you're going to have to consider a microATX unit or give up on any recent (say 2 years) games.

[staffsMike]

Yup. The zepto is the only thing that gets close to budget but I have never dealt with them. They get good reviews on pc pro though.

[this_is_gav]

Hmm, that Zepto does look good actually - 7600 too. Just make sure you knock the RAM up to 1GB - gives a total of &#163;596... including an online discount, apparently.

[staffsMike]

You can get an awesome laptop for around &#163;1200 from them

2.33 core 2 duo
2gb of pc6400 ram!! never seen that in a laptop lol
100gig 7200rpm HD
dvd writer
with or without an OS which is a great option.
the geforce 7600 512mb

and all in a 14" laptop!

I'm tempted by it when I get my new one tbh.

[redlight]

Dell have an Easter deal with £149 off there laptops at the moment.

[BlindMelon7]

Thanks for all the replys, I think i'll aim for the one with a 7600, that card should handle wow right?